Starting purées / rice cereal at 4 months?

[pinotgrig]

Our pedi mentioned we could start experimenting with these, if we wanted to. It feels so early, though (for purées mainly). Anyone else start these around this time?

[Stingyshark]

Our pedi said we could also start around the same time; but like you, I felt it was to early. We waited until she was 6mths for oatmeal & other solids.

[curbsideprophet]

No. We did not do rice cereal or purées with DD so we waited until 6 months. We plan to do the same with DS.

[dulcemariamar]

I waited to six months because I am lazy and didnt want to add another parenting task.

[jackie011]

We were told at his 4 month to wait until 6 months for food. Went to the pedi 2 days after his 6 month birthday and she was surprised we hadn't started solids yet. Um, YOU told us to wait!! I know other babies in this daycare room did start around the 4-5 month mark, though. FWIW, DS hated oatmeal the two times we tried it, but has loved all of the Orange veggies we've tried.

[anna7602]

I wanted to wait until 6 months with DD, but the truth is that she showed all signs of readiness closer to 5 months. I held out as long as I could, but there came a point where I felt guilty eating anything in front of her. So, we started purees at 5.5 months.

4 months sounds very early, though.

[mannah]

We were told 4-6 months but that readiness in that period was based on their neck and upper body strength to make sure they can swallow safely sitting on their own. Do you feel like you're little guy is strong sitting up? Mine is definitely not at that point at 5 months so I'm gonna wait a while. I've also heard it's time to start when they begin reaching for your food.

[pinotgrig]

mannah - he needs some support to sit, but loves it. He's shown zero interest in our food but we don't really eat around him all that much, now that I think about it.

I think we're going to wait to start these things. Our pedi seemed very take it or leave it with the whole thing.

[ssmjlm]

We were told if she was showing signs of wanting to eat or being interested we could start. The pedi strongly discouraged rice cereal and said oatmeal.

We didn't start anything until just after 5m, when E was showing interest. We started with some mashed banana. We tried and tried the oatmeal, but she wouldn't eat it (can't say I blame her).

Around 6m we started sending purees to daycare and doing BLW at home.

[bananapancakes]

The current recommendation (at least from Health Canada) is to wait until 6 months so that's what we did. I've tried the baby oatmeal a few times but he is not a fan. We are doing mostly BLW at this point and it's going well. Four months seems really young IMO.

[mrshandy]

No, I had no interest. Seriously, feeding solids is my least favorite part of that age. They are messy, take forever and stuffing food in their mouth feels completely pointless. Plus if you're doing CDs then the poop starts to get ucky and you have to wash it out.

I started past 6 months with both kids and it worked fine.

[pinotgrig]

mrshandy - I forgot about the poop issue!!!! BM poops are so nice (lol). We are definitely waiting now.

[Deleted]

We waited until about 6 mos. I would watch for readiness signs like watching you eat and an interest in food as well as a loss of the tongue thrust reflex.

[changedname]

I asked my pedi at the 4 month appt and she said to wait til 6 months.
Honestly, solids are so messy and just another task to do that I would wait until the last possible minute.

[catsarecute]

We waited until 2 weeks shy of 6 months to start purees. I didn't do oatmeal or cereal at all. First foods were sweet potatoes and carrots. She loved them. Now we are onto peas and she grabs the spoon and shoves it in her mouth. Her love for vegetables leaves me wondering if she is really my kid.

[MNH2013]

We did half the amount of oatmeal in her bed time bottle to help with reflux. We started purees around 5.5 months.

[jeaniebueller]

We started at 4 months with DS and it was a huge waste of time, so we are waiting until 6 months with DD.

[Deleted]

Oct 24, 2014 6:39:37 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

I wanted to wait until 6 months with DD, but the truth is that she showed all signs of readiness closer to 5 months. I held out as long as I could, but there came a point where I felt guilty eating anything in front of her. So, we started purees at 5.5 months.

4 months sounds very early, though.

I did this with DD. The girl was food crazy. She also teeth super early and was just dying to chew stuff. She was grabbing stuff off my plate not that far after 4 months. 

DS I waited until closer to six. He just didn't seem ready or care at all about it like his sister. And also laziness like pp said.

[Deleted]

I think we were close to 5 months but the first six weeks at least was just us wasting a bunch of food.

[vaportrail]

My mom wants me to start giving DS rice cereal in the evenings because he's still waking up once at night to eat. He's 3 months old and I didn't think waking once to eat was a big deal, but my mom swears I slept through the night at 6 weeks because she gave me rice cereal in my bedtime bottle...

She's gonna nag me about it. I just know it.

[Birdie]

Oct 24, 2014 5:49:37 GMT -5 pinotgrig said:

Our pedi mentioned we could start experimenting with these, if we wanted to. It feels so early, though (for purées mainly). Anyone else start these around this time?

Some do, some don't. Follow your gut. If you feel it's too early, don't feel pressure to start. On the flip side, if you feel like your LO is ready to start before 6 months, don't be pressured by those who think any food before 6 months is a sin.

As an anecdote, I was fine starting DS on solids before 6 months. However, he had different plans and wasn't really interested in food until he was close to 7 months old. The best laid plans...

[jene]

We waited until this week when A turned 6 month. We started with BLW, but he really isn't interested in solid food yet. I agree with PP's, it all depends on your LO.

[jene]

Oct 24, 2014 9:48:28 GMT -5 vaportrail said:

My mom wants me to start giving DS rice cereal in the evenings because he's still waking up once at night to eat. He's 3 months old and I didn't think waking once to eat was a big deal, but my mom swears I slept through the night at 6 weeks because she gave me rice cereal in my bedtime bottle...

She's gonna nag me about it. I just know it.

At 3 months, I think waking up once  during the night to eat is doing pretty well.

[starlily]

Our pedi said we could start at 4mos. DD1 wasn't interested at that point, so we didn't try again until 6mos.

We'll try rice cereal with DD2 at 4mos and follow her cues.